Coca-Cola Launches 250ml Can

Coca-Cola Great Britain is introducing a new slimline 250ml can across Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero.

This new pack is being introduced in addition to the standard 330ml can and reflects the company’s commitment to offering consumers a greater choice of refreshing products to suit all lifestyles.

The 250ml can will be widely available in convenience stores for on-the-go shoppers nationwide from mid-July. It will have a recommended retail price of 49p.

The can will be available across all Coca-Cola trademark brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero. A 250ml can of Coca-Cola will contain 105 calories per can whilst Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero offer people no calorie options in the smaller format.

Jon Woods, General Manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland, said:

“The 250ml can is a really exciting new addition to the Coca-Cola Great Britain portfolio.  The slimline cans offer people a handy Coca-Cola, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Zero at great value, which is really important as we know affordability is high on the agenda for many British shoppers.
 
“It also forms part of our ongoing commitment to provide the people who enjoy our drinks with greater choice in terms of calories and portion size, supporting our goal of helping to promote greater awareness of energy balance in diets across the UK.”

The announcement forms part of a series of commitments that the company has made to help tackle obesity in the UK by providing greater choice and information for consumers. It follows last year’s introduction of the pocket size 375ml PlantBottle™ plastic bottle, which was the company’s first new on-the-go pack size launch in almost 20 years.

Earlier this year Coca-Cola Great Britain announced that the company would be taking further steps to work alongside government and wider industry to be part of the solution to the global obesity problem. This involved a series of television and print adverts, which were part of a global advertising campaign launched by The Coca-Cola Company, aimed at explaining the importance of ‘energy balance’ (balancing calories in with calories out) in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The company also announced that it was taking further actions to implement the Department of Health’s Responsibility Deal Calorie Reduction Pledge, to which Coca-Cola was an early signatory. These included:

- Launching a new, reduced calorie Sprite in the UK in March 2013: the reformulated Sprite contains 30% less sugar versus most sugared drinks and completely replaced the existing Sprite;
- A new Coca-Cola Zero advertisement:  The advert, launched in April, built on consumer awareness of Coca-Cola Zero’s great Coke taste, zero sugar, no calorie message. Today over 40% of the Coca-Cola™  sold in the UK is Coca-Cola Zero or Diet Coke;
- A renewed three-year partnership with UK charity StreetGames, to 2015, which continues the company’s commitment to delivering a lasting legacy of grassroots sports participation following the London 2012 Olympic Games. Since 2010 Coca-Cola Great Britain’s partnership with StreetGames has delivered doorstep sport to more than 110,000 young people in the UK.

These actions built on Coca-Cola Great Britain’s existing commitments in this area.

- Calorie Reduction Pledge: in March 2012, the Coca-Cola System in Great Britain announced plans to reduce the calories in some of its leading soft drinks by at least 30%.  It plans to reduce the average calories per litre of its range of sparkling soft drinks by 5% by the end of 2014. Since 2007, Coca-Cola Great Britain has reduced the calorie content of: Fanta Orange by 30%; Oasis by 35%; Lilt by 56% and Sprite by 30%.
- Nutrition Labelling: since 2003 Coca-Cola Great Britain voluntarily included nutrition information on the labelling of all its products.  In 2007 it introduced Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling on the front of its packaging. This includes calorie information.
- Physical activity: Coca-Cola Great Britain is a member of the Department of Health’s Responsibility Deal and a partner of the Food, Physical Activity and Workplace Wellbeing Networks.  It uses the appeal of the company and its brands to encourage people to become more active, more often.  It does this through:

- Its partnership with StreetGames, which reaches thousands of young people from the UK’s disadvantaged communities, getting them active and involved in sport on their doorsteps.
- Its 35 year partnership with Special Olympics GB which provides year-round sports training and competition for intellectually disabled people.
- As the longest continuous sponsor of the Olympic Movement, Coca-Cola Great Britain always aims to use each Olympic and Paralympic Games as a catalyst to become a better business and positively impact the communities in which each Games takes place.